"Gil!" Roger beamed and waved at the guy up front before they made it to the lot and found something very interesting. "Wow! My very own parking space!"

"Only the best for the greats like Roger Rabbit." Bonkers the Bobcat grinned at Roger.

"Hey, Dunky! Hi, Dingo!" Roger waved to a few other Toons. "How are the piano lessons coming?"

"Hi, Roger!" said one.

"Fine, thanks!" responded the other.

"Man, he knows everyone." Lionel commented.

"Shouldn't be much of a surprise." Cherry smirked.

"Hi, Pinky! How are you?" Roger smiled.

"Fine, Roger! You?" Pinky replied.

"Hiya, Marty! Hi, Bingo!" Roger then greeted a few other fellow Toons.

"Hey! Hey! Hiya, Roger!" Marty replied.

"What's new?" Bingo added.

"Roger, baby, good to see ya!" CB greeted the rabbit before seeing Cherry and Lionel. "And I see you brought your new friends." he then added.

"Pleased to meet you." said Lionel with a nod.

"Sup?" Cherry added.

"All right, just move out of the way so Roger can get to work." CB told them suddenly.

"...well, okay." Lionel shrugged as he picked up Cherry and moved to the side.

"I have legs, you know." Cherry reminded Lionel.

"I know~" Lionel purred. "Just wanted to save you the trouble~!"

"Hm." Cherry rolled her eyes with a small smirk.

"I'll show you where to stand!" CB told Roger as he took the Toon rabbit to move him into position before showing another Toon who was a cow woman in a karate Gi. "Your first scene is a two-shot with Karate Cow! You're both in a haunted house."

"Karate Cow, huh?" Cherry commented. "Sounds like that one rip-off on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

"Karate Cow spots something behind you, points, does her line, you do a head turn and say 'AIEE! Let's get outta here'!" CB then demonstrated to Roger.

"Okay!" Roger nodded.

"Okay! Let's try it!" CB then called out into his director megaphone. "Roll 'em!"

"I still think Karate Cow sounds like a knock-off on Ninja Turtles." Cherry commented to Lionel.

"Admittedly, it does." responded Lionel with a nod.

"And.. ACTION!" CB called from his seat while Cherry and Lionel witnessed the event.

"Roger, don't look now, but there's a big, hairy monster behind you with fangs, claws, and sharp yellow teeth!" Karate Cow told the Toon rabbit.

Roger looked over his shoulder to turn his head and he reacted with his goofy wild takes. "AIEEEEEEE! LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!" he then panicked before his legs turned into a wheel of feet as he was about to run away frantically.

"Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! CUT!" CB yelled and complained.

"What was wrong with that take?!" Cherry glared. "That cow was hardly moving!"

"Too much animation, Roger!" remarked CB. "Remember, this is stylized animation! We're shooting this on twos! That's why we're only paying you HALF as much!"

"So basically they're going from theatrical-animation budget, to TV-animation budgets." commented Lionel.

"Lovely." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"Just turn your head and move your lips! NOTHING ELSE!" CB reminded Roger firmly.

"B-B-B-But that's not animation!" Roger protested nervously.

"It's the new animation!" CB insisted strongly. "It's the wave of the future!"

"I can't stand it!" Roger pouted.

"It's a job!" CB retorted.

Roger looked defeated, but he knew what he had to do or what he thought he had to do.

"You okay, Roge? You don't have to do this." Cherry said to the Toon rabbit.

"No, that's okay, Cherry," Roger replied as he slumped back over to the set. "Okay... Let's try it again!" he then told CB and the other workers as he came back over to Karate Cow.

"This is painful," sighed Lionel as he sat down.

"Roll 'em... and ACTION!" called CB.

"Roger, don't look now, but there's a big, hairy monster behind you with fangs, claws, and sharp yellow teeth!" Karate Cow told the Toon rabbit.

Roger began to sweat, before his eyes grew to the size of parachutes. "AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!" he sceamed. "LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!" he exclaimed before his feet turned into a whirring blurry wheel.

"CUT! Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! CUT!" shouted CB. "Let's take a break!"

"For once, I agree." Cherry rolled her eyes as she agreed with CB.

"CB, I just can't act that way!" Roger complained to the new director. "It's not me!"

"Yeah! He's gotta move!" Cherry added as Roger spun around suddenly and demonstrated his unique Toon skills. "He's gotta squash and stretch!"

"This isn't radio!" Lionel added as he helped them out.

"Look Roger, if you can't do it, I can't use you!" CB told Roger firmly before he called someone on his telephone suddenly. "Sylvia, get me that other rabbit! You know, that one with a tiger for a buddy!"

"Well, hey, if you're calling someone else, what's Roger gonna do?" Cherry asked the director.

"I'm sorry, folks, but I'm terminating Roger's contract." CB then told them.

"P-P-P-Please, CB!" begged Roger. "Who can replace Roger Rabbit?!"

"Rabbits is rabbits!" CB shrugged as he walked away.

"Harsh." Cherry and Lionel both cringed as they felt a bit bad for Roger's situation.

Suddenly, Roger was literally kicked right out of Maroon Cartoons Studios.

"And how about you guys?" CB asked Cherry and Lionel. "I guess you're gonna quit too?"

"Well, we don't work for you, but I'm gonna be there for Roger." Cherry crossed her arms.

"Likewise!" Lionel said as he scurried off after the rabbit.

Roger landed in the middle of the road.

"LOOK OUT!" Cherry cried out since a car was speeding right toward the Toon rabbit.

Luckily, the car skidded to a sudden halt right in front of Roger.

"Phew..." Cherry sighed, though she knew that Roger would be okay, but it was still kind of scary. "Hey, bozo!" she then glared at the driver. "Watch where you're going!"

"Well, sorry, but I didn't see him for a second!" The driver glared as he came out of the car until he was shown to be a familiar face.

"Whoa... Eddie Valiant." Cherry realized with wide eyes.

"Is this the guy?" asked Lionel.

"Yup." nodded Cherry.

"Cherry? Is that you?" Eddie asked as he spotted the perky goth.

"Tis I! The adventurer no one asked for, but put up with anyway!" Cherry announced herself.

"I'm Lionel, nice to meet'cha." Lionel introduced himself.

"Lionel, huh? Good to meet ya too," Eddie said as he shook hands with Lionel. "I guess you might've heard of me."

"Absolutely!" Lionel nodded. "Cherry told me about you!"

"Well, it's an honor," Eddie smirked. "Always nice to see some old faces in a positive way."

"I'll say." Cherry nodded.

"Besides, Roger, I thought you were working." Eddie soon said to the Toon rabbit.

"They gave me the boot, Eddie!" Roger wailed in dismay. "The ax! The gate! The pink slip! My walking papers!"

"You mean they fired you?" Eddie then asked.

"Yeah." Cherry, Lionel, and Roger confirmed in dismay.

"Why?" asked Eddie.

"Because I'm too animated!" Roger responded as he tugged his eyelids and jaw. "I move, I squash, I stretch! It's a wrap! I'm through, washed-up, done for! My career is kaput, fini, terminated!"

"Can you believe this malarkey?" Cherry asked Eddie as it sounded too crazy to say to a real live cartoon character.

"Somehow I feel like this ain't gonna very good for Roger's reputation down the line." Eddie commented as Roger flailed around in dismay.

"And somehow, Mr. Valiant, I think you might be right." said Lionel.

"Have I ever been wrong before?" Eddie remarked. "I was the one who saved those nephews from their kidnapping with Teddy by my side."

"Nephews?" Lionel asked Cherry.

"95% sure the nephews in question were Huey, Dewey, and Louie." Cherry remarked to him.

"Exactly," Eddie nodded. "They're the most famous nephews in animation after all."

"True," nodded Lionel. "But darned if there's not a lot of animated nephews!"

"We just better keep an eye on Roger for a while." Eddie suggested.

"Don't worry, we'll keep track of him." Cherry reassured with a nod.

Within the time Cherry and Lionel were in town, there were many newspapers printed out about the Toon rabbit: Roger Rabbit Hopping Mad, Roger Rabbit Can't Do It, CB KOs RR, Pathetic Former Cartoon Star Gets Arrested in ToonTown Bar Brawl, Roger Rabbit Pens Unauthorized Bio, Roger Rabbit Evicted from ToonTown Home, Marriage Reported to Be on Skids.

"Okay, so it's worse than I thought." Cherry said as she read the various copies of The ToonTown Tattler.

"We have to get to Detective Valiant at once." Jessica suggested.

"You're telling me!" Lionel replied. "One of these says Roger supposedly plans to open a restaurant in Simi Valley!"

"Good grief." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"Actually, that one's not so farfetched." Roger remarked.

Cherry and Lionel looked at him in confusion.

Soon, they rushed over to Eddie's office to try to set things straight.

"Have you seen these?!" Roger asked his detective friend frantically with newspapers in both his hands.

"They're lies!" Jessica glared in anger. "All lies!"

"Except for the one about the restaurant in Simi Valley," Roger mumbled before he panicked frantically again. "THEY'RE TRYING TO RUIN MY CAREER!"

"Where the hell IS Simi Valley?" Eddie mumbled as he took a look through the newspapers.

"Somewhere in California," commented Lionel.

"They're trying to make full animation passé!" Roger exclaimed. "It's not true! There'll ALWAYS be a place for squash and stretch!"

Lionel nodded. "Agreed, 100%!"

"P-P-P-Please, Eddie! Find out why they're doing this to me!" Roger begged. "I don't want to run a restaurant in Simi Valley!"

"Okay, Roger. I'm on it." Eddie promised.

"And so are we." Cherry added, volunteering herself and Lionel.

"Thanks, guys!" Roger beamed as he gave the three of them a zany kiss each. "I knew I could count on you!"

"Ptoo!" Eddie grunted and gagged as Roger's kisses were always disgusting to him.

Lionel giggled a little, wheezing while doing so.

"Gah..." Cherry grunted and shuddered. "I never want to experience Toon Rabbit kisses ever again."

"Heh. Welcome to my world," Eddie smirked a bit. "I hope you guys are ready to do a bit of detective work." he then said to Cherry and Lionel as this was very serious right now.

"Consider us ready and raring to go!" Lionel nodded.

"Thanks, guys!" Roger beamed.

"We're counting on you." Jessica added as she left the office with her husband.

And now, it was time for them to get to work about this curious case of CB Maroon.

There were more articles about CB Maroon taking over Maroon Cartoons, CB Maroon firing Roger Rabbit, ToonTown out of work as Maroon Cartoons lays off entire stable of stars, Toons protesting the Maroon lay-offs, Maroon Cartoons Studio going on an auction block, and even CB Maroon saying to hold a Press Conference tomorrow.

"Man, this all looks downhill from here," Cherry complained. "There's even a rumor about Roger taking Bonkers the Bobcat to court for copyright infringement." she then added, pointing out the security guard bobcat with his own human cop friends known as Miranda Wright and Lucky Piquel.

"The things some people will say to sell some newspapers." shrugged Lionel.

"Especially those kids who make up stories in school papers just to get attention." Cherry nodded.

"Hey, kids! Check this out!" Eddie alerted them.

Cherry and Lionel suddenly came to his sides to see the newspaper he was looking at which had the biggest news scandal of them all.

"'30 Gallon Drum of Animation Cel Paint Thinner Reported Stolen'?" Cherry read aloud curiously. "Well, that's quite a case." she then commented.

"I'd certainly say so," nodded Lionel. "Especially since that seems to have happened around the time this CB guy came."

"So what do we do now?" Cherry wondered.

"We'll have to work up a plan, especially with that Toon Press Conference coming up." Eddie advised.

"Right then... let's get to it!" Lionel declared.

"Hopefully he doesn't catch onto what we're doing right away," Cherry remarked. "I still don't trust this CB Maroon guy and RK Maroon seemed iffy when I met him too, though he seemed to actually care about Roger and the other Toons."

"I guess that's fair," nodded Lionel. "I never met him, but I'll take your word for it. In the meantime, we'd better keep our ears open."

Cherry nodded at that.